The Parthenon

Historical Setting

When work began on the Parthenon in 447 BC, the Athenian Empire
was at the height of its power. Work on the temple continued until
432; the Parthenon, then, represents the tangible and visible
efflorescence of Athenian imperial power, unencumbered by the
depradations of the Peloponnesian War. Likewise, it symbolizes the
power and influence of the Athenian politician, Perikles, who
championed its construction.

Some historians believe that Athens concluded a peace treaty with
Persia in 449, two years before work began on the Parthenon. The
significance of this would be that the Delian League/Athenian Empire
continued to exist, even after the reason for its existence (a mutual
defense league against the Persians) had ceased to be valid. In other
words it was now openly acknowledged that Athens was not just the
head of the Greek defense league but actually an imperial master over
other Greek states. The decision by the Athenians in 454 BC to move
the League treasury from the Panhellenic sanctuary at Delos to the
Athenian acropolis points in the same direction. Because the
Parthenon was built with League funds, the building may be read as an
expression of the confidence of the Athenians in this newly naked
imperialism. But the piety of this undertaking should not be
underestimated; the Persians had sacked the temples on the Athenian
acropolis in 480, and rebuilding them fulfilled, in Bury's words, the
Athenians' "debt of gratitude to heaven for the defeat of the Mede."

Architectural Features

The Parthenon is a Doric peripteral temple, which means that it
consists of a rectangular floor plan with a series of low steps on
every side, and a colonnade (8 x 17) of Doric columns extending
around the periphery of the entire structure. Each entrance has an
additional six columns in front of it. The larger of the two interior
rooms, the naos, housed the cult statue. The smaller
room (the opisthodomos) was used as a treasury. Here
is a plan of the temple:

It was built to replace two earlier temples of Athena on the
Acropolis. One of these, of which almost no trace remains today,
stood south of the Parthenon (between the Parthenon and the
Erechtheum). The other, which was still being built at the time of
the Persian sack in 480, was on the same spot as the Parthenon. We
know the names of the architects (Iktinos and Kallikrates) and also
of the sculptor (Pheidias) who made the massive chryselephantine cult
statue of the goddess.

The Orders

The three main types of columns used in Greek temples and other
public buildings are Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The truest and
most basic difference among the orders has to do with proportions
(Doric columns, for example, being thicker and shorter, Ionic columns
taller and slimmer). As a shortcut, the orders may be distinguished
most easily by their capitals (the tops of the columns). As you can
see from the following examples, the Doric capital has the simplest
design; the Ionic has the curlicues called volutes, and the
Corinthian has the acanthus leaves:

Doric Capital
Ionic Capital Corinthian
Capital

Doric is not only a type of column, but an "order"; this means
that temples of the Doric order not only have this type of column,
but also have a certain structure at the upper levels. The different
types of orders (column plus entablature) are illustrated by these
diagrams, from Perseus:
Doric
order, and
Ionic
order. The Doric order is characterized by the series of
triglyphs and metopes on the entablature. Each metope was occupied by
a panel of relief sculpture.

The Parthenon combines elements of the Doric and Ionic orders.
Basically a Doric peripteral temple, it features a continuous
sculpted frieze borrowed from the Ionic order, as well as four Ionic
columns supporting the roof of the opisthodomos.

The Metopes

The metopes of the Parthenon all represented various instances of
the struggle between the forces of order and justice, on the one
hand, and criminal chaos on the other. On the west side, the mythical
battle against the Amazons (Amazonomachy); on the south, the battle
between the Lapiths and the Centaurs (Centauromachy); on the east,
the battle between the gods and the giants (Gigantomachy); on the
north, the Greeks versus the Trojans. Of the panels the best
preserved are those showing the Centauromachy. Here are South Metope
31 and 30 (compare the discussion in Pollitt, Art & Experience,
82-83):

For a complete catalogue, with images and descriptions of all the
Parthenon metopes, see
Perseus'
Parthenon Metope Page (photos will be available only if you are
on a Reed computer or a computer on another campus which has enhanced
access to the Perseus photos by license agreement), and theAustralian
National University collection (photos, but no text).

The Pedimental Sculptures

These relief sculptures, larger than those of the metopes,
occupied the triangular space above the triglyphs and metopes. Those
at the west end of the temple depicted the contest between Poseidon
and Athena for the right to be the patron deity of Athens (Athena's
gift of the olive tree was preferred over Poseidon's spring). The
eastern pedimental group showed the birth of Athena from Zeus' head.
The pedimental sculpture suffered badly when the Parthenon was hit by
a Venetian shell in 1687 and the powder magazine inside exploded.
This reclining god (probably Dionysus) from the east pediment gives
some sense of the quality of the sculpture:

For a complete catalogue, with images and descriptions of all the
Parthenon pedimental sculpture, see
Perseus'
Parthenon East Pediment Page and
West
Pediment Page (photos will be available only if you are
on a Reed computer or a computer on another campus which has enhanced
access to the Perseus photos by license agreement).

The Frieze

The Parthenon frieze runs around the upper edge of the temple
wall. Its relatively small size (3 feet 5 inches tall) and placement
(inside from the triglyphs and metopes) made it fairly hard to see
from the ground. Unlike the metopes, the frieze has a single subject
on all four sides. On three sides (north, west, and south) it depicts
a procession of horsemen, musicians, sacrificial animals, and other
figures with various ritual functions. On the east side there is a
scene centered on a child handing a folded cloth to an older man. On
one side of them seated gods and goddess are in attendance; on the
other, two girls are carrying something. Although the state of
preservation is poor, the interpretation of the subject has hotly
debated. Most scholars agree that it represents the Panathenaic
procession, but some think it is a mythical, "original" procession,
while others believe that it is the procession which took place in
the same period as the temple was built, and that this illustrates
the (over-)confident spirit of the Athenians, who dared to put
themselves where ordinarily only gods and heroes might be found.

Recently the debate has taken a new turn with the publication of a
radical original theory by Joan B. Connelly. Here is a detailed
summary
of Connelly's ideas and some questions about them. Connelly's theory
depends on a reinterpretation of this scene from the east frieze:

For a complete set of images and descriptions of the Parthenon
frieze, see the
Perseus
Parthenon Frieze Page (photos will be available only if
you are on a Reed computer or a computer on another campus which has
enhanced access to the Perseus photos by license agreement).